we went spooking

Have you heard of spooking?

This letter was in a bag of fun goodies we got on our doorstep late last night. Someone rang our door and ran, leaving the bag behind (thank you next door neighbors!). The girls got some fun Halloween toys, candy and fruit snacks.

So, today Sam and I visited the dollar section at Target and grabbed some stuff to fill our own spooking bags. We waited till the sun went down...

grabbed our spooking bags and headed out.

And then the actual spooking!

We had so much fun tonight! Hope the people we spooked enjoy their bags of goodies!

the lessons I have learned

I have been robbed twice in the last three weeks. Being robbed ever can open your eyes and teach you something, but being robbed TWICE in THREE WEEKS really affects you.

For those that may not know my car was broken into on September 24th while I was in Milwaukee at a board meeting. My window was smashed, car door and roof dented and purse stolen.
Then just last week I walked down the street and left the garage door open. I was being lazy, I guess, by not grabbing a key or garage door opener to take with me but I was only going to be gone for two hours and Chris was home. No big deal. WRONG! Someone came into our garage, went through our cars (including my trunk) and stole all my cash. Luckily this time they didn't do damage to the cars or take anything else from our garage. OR come into our house!!!

So, after these two events I have learned some serious lessons and made some serious changes to my behavior. Here they are....

1. My purse goes with me everywhere now. Even with the car locked it is NOT okay to leave your purse in the car.


2. If you have to leave anything of value in your car, HIDE IT.


3. Don't carry cash, it is only going to be stolen anyway.


4. Things of personal value that cannot be replaced should not be carried in your wallet for you to look at everyday.


5. Your garage is public domain. Do not leave your purse in your car, even in the garage.


6. Lock your car in your garage.


7. The door that leads into your garage from the house should always be locked. Since the garage is open to the public you just never know what kind of rif-raf might walk in.


8. People SUCK!

I have lost some of my innocence, some of my sense that people are genuinly good. And the second set of cops that I spoke to said that as more jobs are lost in this state, as more people are in financial crisis the crimes of opportunity like this will only increase. We have to be even more prootective of what we have.

I hate that this is the world my daughters now know. It breaks my heart that Sam has told many people "the mean people broke my mom's car and stole her pink purse". A three year old should not ever have to know things like that happen.

The "mean people" suck!

eating?

I cook. Not perfectly beautiful meals that have all the food groups every time but they are still meals that require planning and effort. More times than not my children look at the food I have so lovingly put on their plate and they turn up their noses and say "I don't like that" or some other ridiculous statement. Which I know is ridiculous because most of the time they have eaten this same meal and gobbled it down with no problem. Or it is a meal full of ingredients that I know they like and there is no reason for them to not like them now.
But instead getting them to eat just one bite is a fight. We have to feed them, bribe them, scowled them and force them into eating. Dinner time is stressful and ruined.
What is a mom to do? How do moms overcome this? I would love to know how other parents get their kids to eat new foods. What rules do you have for dinner time? How do you deal with mean statements that your kids say about the food you have prepared?
We have a "No thank you bite" rule that I think I got from my sister (sorry if I am mis-remembering and not given credit to the right mom!), which basically means that my kids have to have one bite of everything that is put on their plate. Then once they have tried something if they still don't like it they don't have to finish it. But I NEVER make them something else.
I really like this rule and it seems to work out okay but even just getting them to eat that one bite can be torture sometimes. I often wonder if it is really worth it. And how do I teach them to appreciate the fact that I cook for them at all.
I was horrible to my mom growing up and would often look at the amazing food she had prepared and literally say "yuck do I have to eat that?". I was mean and I know it hurt my mom's feelings. But how do you teach kids early to not have those kinds of thoughts in the first place? I have no idea how my mom heard those statements on a regular basis and continued to turn around and cook more great meals for us.

family visit

I got an AWESOME surprise this weekend! Chris arranged for my two best college friends to come up for a visit. I have not seen both of them at the same time in SO long (right after Avery was born they both came to stay with me because Chris had to go out of town for a bit). I was blown away when I saw them and we had a great time catching up and just laughing like we use to. But unfortunately my surprise weekend fell on the same weekend that my sister-in-law was coming to the mid-west for a visit with my brand new nephew Chester. I was so bummed that I couldn't go with Chris and the girls to see the the family. All six of the next generation of cousins were together and the stories that I heard from Chris and Sam make it sound like they all just had a really great time. Wanted to share with the family some of the photos that Chris took for me (I forced him to take the camera and was very clear about the requirement for me to see LOTS of pictures!!). I think he did pretty good as the cameraman...maybe I will hand over that job more often!

This is Chester. Gotta love that baby scowl!

Love this shot of Sam holding Chester. She was very excited to tell me how gentle she was with him.

The girls really enjoyed seeing the family and we can't wait to do it again soon!

a little bit of golf

We had amazing weather today so when Chris got home we headed out to the golf course to let the girls play a few holes.

Golf makes me feel like that sometimes too Avery.

Just a little video of Avery. I have finally figured out how to work the video feature on my camera (woohoo!) and have been going crazy with it but unfortunately my videos are still pretty awful and I have no way to edit them. Oh well. At least you can see my inability to understand my daughter right now!

Hoping we can get out golfing at least once more before the golf courses close. We will see!

the ice cream shop

I am not above bribery! Especially when it works and results in me getting good ice cream! A while back we started a good listening jar. I put a cute tag on it with a ribbon and placed the jar on the kitchen counter. I told her that each time she was a good listener and did exactly what I asked her to she would get to put a penny in the jar. There are measurement lines on the side of the jar and I told her each time the pennies got to one of the lines she would get to go to a real ice cream store and pick out her own ice cream!
She doesn't remember to ask for a penny (and I don't remember to give her one) everytime she listens to me so it has taken her quite a while to reach the line but she finally did.
Saturday we took her to a real ice cream store for the first time! I have never seen her so excited as when she saw all those flavors of ice cream to choose from.

Gotta love that fake little girl smile!

And of course Avery got to enjoy the treat too.

One determined little girl!!

Bribery may not be the best parenting tool. Hopefully we will not still be using this when she is in highschool since I don't think ice cream will have the same value to her at that point!

where did the time go?

May 26? The last time I posted on this blog was May 26? How can that really be possible?

Anyway, the girls are doing great. Some quick updates for you...

Sam just had her first dentist check up and I was super pumped that she didn't have any cavities or concerns. BUT they did tell me that her front teeth are predominantly pushed forward, which is due to her constant chewing on her blanket. Bummer.

Avery just had her 18 month check up! Holy cow. Basically, her head is huge, she is tall and weighs a lot. But if you have seen her at all recently you already knew all of that! What pictures can't tell you is that after being told at her one year appointment that she was very delayed with her communication skills she has made up some serious ground and caught back up. She has all kinds of words and communicates with us just fine. Very proud of how far she has come lately.

The girls are having a fun summer with lots of different babysitters. Sounds horrible but I am doing my best to get back to work at least a little bit. Since it is summer I am working with a group of high school and college aged girls to allow me to work random hours throughout the week. I think it is good for the girls to have different people to play with them and discipline them. So far it is working out for us pretty well.

And here are a few pictures that haven't been seen anywhere else!

Post naptime snuggling! So cute.

I have a very fun recipe to share with you all but this one post has really worn me out tonight! hehehe